On the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month, it snowed heavily in Haojing.
The biting cold wind roared into the streets and alleys of Haojing, rolling out plum petals from the gardens of wealthy people on the roadside, mixed with goose feathers and snow flakes, and swept across the courtyards and roof tiles one after another.
In the southeast of Haojing Imperial City, there are four major Min'anfangs: Yipinshangfengfengdiao, Yushun, Cathay and Min'an.
On the east side of Min'anfang, separated by an artificial canal several miles wide, is Erpinshangfang Anlefang.
Anlefang, what a noble person.
Those who can establish a business in Anlefang are mostly rich and powerful families wearing purple robes.
In recent years, the most famous and extravagant figure in Anlefang is none other than Tianenhou Lu Tie (tai, Tong 'big', Tong 'sunlight').
Covering an area of nearly a thousand acres, to the north of the magnificent Tianenhou Mansion is Yulu Hutong, the back street of the Hou Mansion.
The entire back street is nearly three miles long, and the north and south of the street are lined with neat courtyards, inhabited by members of the Jingyang Lu family's Tian'enhou Mansion.
At the westernmost end of Yulu Hutong, next to the No. 1 Canal Pier of Anlefang, there is a small courtyard.
It's freezing cold and the canals are frozen.
At dawn, teams of sleds were pulled by fat and strong snow dogs, carrying small mountains of firewood, salt, rice, noodles and other daily necessities, running like shuttles on the ice of the canal that was several miles wide.
Amidst the hissing sound of the sled rubbing against the ice, Lu Qian (xian, Tong'xian'), whose long, shiny black hair was tied into a single ponytail and wrapped in a thin green cloth double-breasted cotton-padded jacket, pulled away
From the door of the main room on the north side of the courtyard, I took a deep breath of the biting cold air.
The cold air entered his stomach and his whole body felt cool. A warm smile appeared on Lu Qian's resolute face.
Slowly walking out of the room, stretching his arms and legs, Lu Qian raised his head and looked at the cloud-covered sky.
"Oh, auspicious snow heralds a good harvest."
"Scare, bah, bah, wrong, wrong. It should be, I originally set my heart on the bright moon, but the bright moon shines on the ditch!"
Pulling his fingers together, Lu Qian muttered.
"In Jiayou's fifteenth year, after a dinner to thank his master, he slipped and fell while drinking and broke his left calf."
"In the sixteenth year of Jiayou's reign, after a banquet to thank his master, he fell downstairs and broke his right calf."
"Yesterday last year, after the end-of-school appreciation banquet, I fell on the toilet and broke my left thigh. Tsk, but you still have no regrets."
"How about all three legs are broken this year?"
Lu Qian smiled and made gestures with his fingers.
"You've learned so much. Yesterday, after school break, you said you weren't feeling well, so you changed the thank you banquet to tonight."
"If you avoid yesterday, how can you avoid today? Haha!"
"How about folding all three legs?"
"Isn't it too cruel? It's not some deep hatred, it's just deliberately making things difficult for me. For four consecutive years, they gave me four questions that I couldn't do, couldn't do, and would cause trouble if I did!"
"There is no such thing as gratuitous hatred."
"On weekdays, I am a plain, ordinary and transparent person in the clan school and among the clan."
"You make things difficult for me for no reason, why is that?"
"What hatred do we have? What grudges do we have?"
While muttering in a low voice, Lu Qian walked to the well in the small courtyard.
In the middle of winter, Lu Qian took off all his clothes, grabbed a bucket, fetched a bucket of water from the well, and poured it all over himself.
After pouring seven or eight buckets of water in this way, Lu Qian, who was feeling hot all over his body, dipped his fingers in some coarse salt and brushed his teeth vigorously.
After brushing your teeth, the water on your body has evaporated away from your body temperature.
Lu Qian stretched his body vigorously against the cold wind and yawned pleasantly. Then he put his clothes back on and strode to the east side of the yard.
In the corner of the east wing, there is a small piece of bamboo planted here. Despite the heavy snowfall in the cold winter, this small piece of bamboo is still green.
Lu Qian hissed a few times, and from among the dense snow-covered bamboo leaves, a small snake as thick as a thumb and more than three feet long swam down nimbly, coiled around the bamboo pole.
This little snake is all green, and its scales are as crystal clear as gems. It is not as sinister and ferocious as ordinary snakes, but instead looks a bit spiritual and cute.
In such a cold winter, ordinary snakes have already hibernated and frozen, but this green snake is very smart and lively.
The green snake slid along the bamboo pole in front of Lu Qian, opened its delicate little mouth, and spit out the message with a hiss.
Lu Qian took out two fresh eggs from his sleeves. The front half of the green snake's body was as fast as lightning and pounced forward, swallowing the two eggs alive. It swayed its body and gently rubbed against Lu Qian's
The palms of hands look particularly intimate.
"Go, go, have a good rest."
Lu Qian patted the green snake on the head, turned and walked towards the backyard.
In Lu Qian's yard, behind a row of five main houses on the north side, there is a half-acre piece of land where some common vegetables and fruits are usually grown, but now it is covered with a thick layer of snow.
Directly north of the backyard, Lu Qian dug a puddle measuring one foot square.
In the middle of winter, the water more than three feet deep in this puddle has frozen into ice.
A black snapping turtle the size of a millstone lay lazily on the ice.
Hearing Lu Qian's footsteps, the snapping turtle stretched out its long neck and made a "coo-coo" sound. Its soybean-sized eyes moved around, making it look particularly agile and even a bit cunning.
Lu Qian squatted by the puddle and took out two pieces of fresh lean pork.
The snapping turtle opened its big mouth, swallowed two fist-sized pieces of lean meat in one bite, nodded gently to Lu Qian, then retracted its head and limbs into the turtle shell, and lay quietly on the ice.
.
Lu Qian reached out and touched the rugged and pricked back of the snapping turtle, then stood up and walked to the west side of the yard.
On the west side of the yard, in the corner of the west wing, a small shack was built.
A white rabbit with a body as round as a ball (feline, ferocious) was lazily lying in the shack. When he saw Lu Qian coming over, the guy's blue eyes widened and he was very rude.
Ha, ha' roared twice.
Lu Qian hurriedly took out two pieces of chicken breast and placed two fresh eggs in front of the rabbit.
"Uncle, you eat first. If you don't have enough time later, you can greet the little one later!"
"I won't disturb your meal, you can enjoy it slowly!"
Lu Qian smiled flatteringly at the rabbit, stretched out his hand and stroked it hard twice, then took out its chin, took small steps with a smile, and ran away amidst the impatient "haha" sound of the rabbit.
Toward the due south of the courtyard.
The rabbit pressed a paw on a piece of chicken breast, tilted his eyes toward Lu Qian's back, and blew a breath of cold air from his nostrils.
Under the eaves of the sundry house directly south, there is a large birdcage made of fine steel.
A large parrot with a fiery red body and no trace of color, with a body length of about a foot and tail feathers of more than a foot and a half, stood in the birdcage, tilting its head and looking at Lu Qian who was trotting over.
"Your mother exploded!"
"Your mother exploded!"
"Your mother was blown to pieces!"
The big parrot suddenly spoke and howled hysterically at the top of its lungs.
"Hey, it's coming, it's coming!"
Lu Qian hurried to the birdcage, took out a large handful of dried nuts and threw them into the food plate of the birdcage.
The big parrot glanced sideways at Lu Qian, trembled its feathers, lowered its head, and ate the dried fruit slowly.
"You are all masters!"
Lu Qian pointed to the clump of bamboo in the east, the puddle in the north, and the shack in the west. He reached into the birdcage and stabbed the big parrot's fat belly hard.
"Everyone of you, I owed you something in my previous life?"
“Rhubarb is still honest and honest!”
Lu Qian sighed, clapped his hands, and walked into the kitchen next to the utility room.
After a burst of noise, a faint plume of smoke floated out of the kitchen chimney. After a while, the aroma of meat porridge wafted in the small yard.
A big yellow dog stood on the ground, with a head and neck almost as high as a human waist, nearly seven feet long from head to tail, with shiny yellow fur all over its body. It was fat, strong and full of energy. It held a huge iron basin in its mouth and walked slowly.
With four steps, he walked out of the main room.
The big yellow dog held an iron basin in its mouth, walked slowly through the small courtyard, and squatted quietly at the door of the kitchen.
A quarter of an hour later.
The big yellow dog was lying on the ground, licking the meat porridge in the iron basin very calmly.
There are several eggs nestled in its meat porridge. The aroma of meat, eggs and rice are mixed together, and the aroma is so fragrant that it makes your mouth water.
Lu Qian was holding a white porcelain ocean bowl, squatting next to the big yellow dog, and drinking the meat porridge in small sips without using chopsticks or spoons.
‘Xixi Suosuo’, ‘Xixi Suosuo’.
The rabbit had eaten and drank enough, and walked out of the shack with its fat body shaking, and circled around the small courtyard, looking like a wealthy landlord inspecting his fields.
The big parrot was also full of dried fruits, and its short hair stood up. It squeezed its head out of the gap in the cage fence and challenged the rabbit cat who was circling around to eat after the meal.
"Girl, give me a smile for uncle!"
The fur all over the rabbit cat's body exploded, like a spherical lightning bolt, it suddenly jumped up several feet high, and clasped a paw on the birdcage.
Just a few "ding-ding" sounds were heard, and the rabbit's claws pulled out a few small sparks on the birdcage.
In a dense clump of bamboo leaves, a green snake sneakily poked its head out, peeping towards this side.
The big yellow dog finished eating the meat porridge in the iron basin, shook off its long hair, stood up, and roared several times at the big parrot in the birdcage.
The big parrot stopped and retracted its head into the birdcage.
The big yellow dog walked up to the rabbit with fried fur and put a paw on the rabbit's head.
The originally ferocious Rabbit's arrogance was completely gone, and the long hairs all over its body clung to its body in an extremely soft and supple manner. It screamed "meow" and rubbed its head against the big yellow dog's legs again and again.
Lu Qian just finished the porridge. He grabbed the big yellow dog's iron basin and walked to the well in the corner of the yard. He kicked the rabbit on the butt along the way: "You bully the weak and fear the strong!"
The big yellow dog's eyes widened and he looked at Lu Qian in shock. The corners of his mouth drooped, with a very hurt look on his face.
‘Dang Dang Dang’!
Someone knocked hard on the door of the small courtyard, and an unpleasant male duck's voice came in: "Brother Qi, Brother Qi? Hurry, my wife is calling you. Hurry, hurry up, I don't dare to let my wife wait for you!"
"
Lu Qian, who had already reached the well and was about to throw the bucket into the well to fetch water, was stunned. He put down the bucket, shook the snow flakes on his hands, and ran to the entrance of the courtyard in small steps.
"Who is this early in the morning?"
Lu Qian unbolted the door and opened the courtyard door, feeling a cold wind blowing in his face.
A middle-aged man wrapped in a rabbit-skin coat, with triangular eyes and a triangular face, and a rather sarcastic appearance grabbed Lu Qian's arm and dragged him out.
"Hurry up, the lady is calling you."
"Brother Qi, let me tell you, my wife has been very angry these past two days. Don't disobey her. You must obey her in everything!"
"If you anger Madam, you will be in trouble this year! Watch out for your skin!"